So Exactly How Much of Tesla Does Elon Musk Still Own?

I know the question burning in your mind right now:

"With Elon Musk constantly in the headlines, how much of Tesla does he actually still own after all these years since he first invested?"

It‘s understandable curiosity around such an iconic founder and CEO who has led Tesla from fledgling startup to most valuable automaker globally today, rocketing Musk to previously unimaginable wealth and status along the way.

Well dear reader, let‘s explore that question thoroughly right now! By delving into the history and numbers around Musk‘s Tesla ownership, we can unravel exactly how much control and financial ties he still retains to the company he first backed in 2004.

Here‘s what we‘ll cover:

• Musk‘s initial investment into Tesla and accumulated ownership
• The impact of Tesla‘s public listing and subsequent stock splits
• Breakdown of Musk‘s current Tesla shares and estimated worth
• His dual role as CEO and largest shareholder
• Recent sales to finance the Twitter acquisition
• Effect on Musk‘s net worth and richest person ranking

So buckle up! It‘s going to be an illuminating ride through the data on Musk‘s past and present stake in Tesla.

Becoming Tesla‘s Biggest Early Backer

Let‘s rewind first to when Elon Musk began building his position as the dominant shareholder and leader of Tesla…

In February 2004, Musk made his entry by leading Tesla Motors‘ initial Series A funding round, investing $6.5 million for a substantial stake in the fledgling electric vehicle startup. This capital injection was crucial for Tesla to purchase key assets as it worked towards bringing its first model to market.

As the biggest early backer, Musk joined Tesla‘s Board of Directors in April 2004 to actively guide the company. Over the next few years, he gradually increased his personal funding into Tesla as additional investment rounds were needed to develop the business.

By the time Tesla filed for its 2010 IPO, Musk had built up an ownership position of 88,663,771 shares giving him 28.9% controlling stake as the dominant shareholder. His votes would hold serious sway on major company decisions as a result.

So in those critical early days, Musk secured his status as both the largest funder and individual shareholder that persists through to today. Now let‘s see how his ownership percentage shifted later on…

Losing Ownership Percentage Through Stock Splits

Flash forward to June 29, 2010 when Tesla finally staged its hotly anticipated Initial Public Offering, opening up ownership of the red-hot stock to institutional and retail investors globally.

The IPO share price was set at $17 with Tesla raising $226 million from the listing. Crucially, it also benchmarked Tesla‘s valuation at IPO time at around $1.7 billion.

Now compare that to today in December 2022 and Tesla‘s current market valuation sits at roughly $620 billion – a monumental 362x increase in overall value since the company‘s public debut!

However, Elon Musk‘s ownership share did not expand 362x. In fact his slice of the pie has gradually declined as Tesla created new shares through 5 separate stock splits intended to keep the share price in check for retail traders.

Let‘s recap when these stock splits occurred in Tesla‘s history and the effect on share count:

As you can see, these successive stock splits massively increased the pool of Tesla shares available as trading stock. From about 170 million at IPO time, Tesla now has approximately 3.2 billion shares outstanding.

Naturally then, while Tesla‘s value grew over 360x, Elon Musk‘s ownership portion reduced as all these new shares were gobbled up by excited retail investors happy to own the Tesla growth story.

Musk even publicly commented on preferring stock splits to unnecessary shareholder returns:

“I don’t control stock splits, but I do voice my opinion. I’ve been very clear that I believe we should voice shares to allow retail investors an opportunity to invest in Tesla at lower prices.“

This brings us to the present day – just how much is left of Tesla that Elon Musk still owns?

Musk Now Owns 13.4% Valued at $35 Billion

Well despite the dilution from 5 stock splits over the past decade, Musk remains firmly the largest individual shareholder of Tesla today in December 2022.

He currently holds 13.4% of the total stock, equating to 155 million shares based on the 3.2 billion now outstanding.

With Tesla‘s share price hovering around $225 over the last month, it means Musk‘s stake is worth close to $35 billion by current market valuation.

To give perspective on the scale – Musk owns over 8X more Tesla shares than oracle founder Larry Ellison, the #2 individual shareholder with 18.9 million shares.

And at 13.4%, Musk‘s ownership slice also dwarfs that of major institutional investors in Tesla like Blackrock (6.2%) and Vanguard (5.8%).

So while no longer the near 30% controlling portion he had originally, Elon Musk still holds the controlling reins of Tesla firmly in hand as both CEO and commanding shareholder.

Dual Role as CEO and Top Shareholder

Beyond boasting the largest individual ownership chunk, Musk also occupies the permanent CEO position at Tesla.

This means he wields huge influence over both:

1. Tesla‘s operational direction as Chief Executive
2. Maximizing shareholder returns by strongly aligning company strategy with his personal financial motivations as the leading investor

Most public company CEOs have to balance satisfying key institutional shareholders against their own growth agenda for the business. Activist board members pressuring the management team on behalf of large investors is fairly common.

But Musk sidesteps all that by playing both roles simultaneously – running the show operationally and financially benefiting massively from Tesla‘s soaring market valuation.

There‘s minimal friction between management and shareholders like in many traditional corporates. For better or worse, Musk has no oversight and public shareholders are ultimately trusting his business judgment.

On the flip side, this free rein also introduces risk that Musk pursues strategic objectives for Tesla aligned with his other pet projects rather than strictly focusing on sustaining shareholder value…which introduces our next chapter.

Selling His Shares to Purchase Twitter

All was running smoothly until Musk shocked the business world in April 2022 by revealing his purchase of 73 million Twitter shares to become the platform‘s largest shareholder.

This 9.6% stake worth $3 billion was just Musk dipping his toes in the water. It soon became clear he wanted full control…

On April 25th, Musk offered an unsolicited bid to buy Twitter outright at $54.20 per share, valuing the company at $44 billion.

This brazen takeover attempt triggered months of drama between Musk and Twitter‘s board. But with his massive personal wealth tied to his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, where exactly was Musk getting the millions needed to fund this colossal acquisition?

The answer unfortunately turned out to be selling billions of dollars worth of his Tesla shares – raising alarm bells from analysts and investors now worried about Musk cashing out his flagship company to splurge on Twitter.

By late October, regulatory filings revealed Musk had offloaded $20 billion worth of Tesla shares over 2021-2022 – easily surpassing previous records for insider sales.

This was the biggest liquidation ever of Tesla stock by anyone, prompting criticism like this from billionaire investor Bill Ackman:

“I don’t love that he’s selling stock, and bondholders should be nervous about Musk using Twitter as a megaphone with a shrinking equity base underneath the debt.“

With Musk tapped out on selling further Tesla equity however, the $44 billion Twitter deal was instead funded by almost $13 billion in bank loans plus billions more from Musk‘s investors.

But the Tesla selloff coupled with Musk‘s management antics and mass layoffs after seizing Twitter reignited concerns on whether Tesla itself is losing focus from its eccentric CEO off playing with his new toy.

Knocked Off Top Spot Among World‘s Richest

You‘ve probably noticed Elon Musk constantly being trumpeted in headlines over 2021-2022 as the world‘s richest human with his monumental net worth surging to $340 billion last November.

This brief peak officially made him the wealthiest person on Earth since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first claimed the title in 2017. Musk‘s fortune was intertwined with Tesla‘s valuation which at one point exceeded trillion dollar status among the top companies by market cap globally.

However with Tesla‘s stock hammered 61% lower across 2022, Musk‘s net worth has deflated dramatically in parallel to end the year at "just" $176.8 billion by late December.

While the dollar figure seems almost meaningless at that stratospheric level, the bigger blow was Musk also losing his much coveted #1 rank on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index that obsessively tracks the world‘s richest people.

He‘s been officially dethroned by French luxury titan Bernard Arnault – CEO of Louis Vuitton‘s parent group LVMH – whose higher performing fashion brands helped his net worth eclipse Musk‘s at $186.2 billion.

So 2022 closed with Musk being stripped of both the #1 wealthiest spot and his CEO of the Year title from the Financial Times.

His chaotic management of Twitter saw brand partners pause spending amidst layoffs decimating internal teams. JPMorgan also suspended a planned $5 billion debt raise intended for share buybacks and dividends.

This turbulence has somewhat vindicated Tesla investors worried about Musk‘s distraction by Twitter. Respected Wall Street analyst Daniel Ives said Musk was:

"using Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding the red ink at Twitter which gets worse by the day as more advertisers flee the platform with controversy increasing driven by Musk."

Despite shareholders losing over $600 billion in Tesla‘s value during 2022, Musk signaled they won‘t be seeing profits from him selling more of their company to fix his Twitter trainwreck:

“Tesla shareholders are attacking me for excessive comp and selling stock. My comp is tied directly to long-term absolute share growth, not % growth, so this benefits all shareholders.”

While Musk has a point that his stock awards incentivize pursuing ambitious expansion, it‘s understandable for investors to feel uneasy over his multi-tasking across several companies simultaneously.

Wrapping Up – Musk Still Firmly Holding the Tesla Reins

So after this deep dive exploring Elon Musk‘s past and current Tesla ownership stake plus the recent upheaval with Twitter…what‘s our final tally?

Musk holds 13.4% of Tesla valued today at $35 billion. His shares have decreased from nearly 30% at IPO through incremental dilution, but he remains strongly the largest individual shareholder.

Combine this formidable equity position with his CEO powers dictating Tesla‘s direction, it‘s undisputed that Elon Musk firmly holds the reins steering Tesla 18 years after first backing the ambitious startup.

However, his personal adventures in rocketships, brain implants and political twitter wars have sparked genuine concern on whether Musk is overextending himself. Recent stumbles have cost his #1 richest ranking, dented Tesla‘s valuation and shaken some loyal shareholders.

So while Tesla investors still faithfully hold 80% of the shares outstanding as the price wanders into 2023, one key question looms large…

Has Elon Musk become too distracted as Tesla‘s leader and biggest shareholder? Time will tell!

Hope you enjoyed my deep perspective into Elon Musk‘s ownership of Tesla over the long winding journey so far. Stay tuned for more analysis of Musk and Tesla in future posts!